Delusions
by Shotzette
Summary: Why did Lenny really talk Laverne out of moving in with David in the episode, "Moving In"?


This work of fanfiction was written for enjoyment purposes only, and is not intended to infringe upon any copyrights held by Paramount, ABC, or anyone else living, dead, or imagined. Do not reprint or archive without the written permission of the author.  
  
California era, during the episode, "Moving In".  
  
"Delusions"  
By Shotzette  
Rated PG  
  
Lenny closed his eyes and breathed deeply as he pressed his flaming forehead against the cold, metal side of his ice cream truck.  
  
Breathe, he told himself, just breathe.  
  
Slowly he regained control if his traitorous lungs. His hands stopped shaking and the pounding of his heart no longer sang like the surf in his ears.  
  
He turned his back towards the truck and folded his arms across his chest tightly, rocking back and forth on his heels, as he squinted against the sun and peered at the third floor apartment.  
  
She was still in there.  
  
He didn't know what to expect. Had he actually thought she would have listened to him and run out the door with him?  
  
When had she ever listened to him, of all people?  
  
His mind flashed back years earlier to Milwaukee. She hadn't wanted to listen then, either. The sting of her angry slap had burned, but eventually she had listened to him.  
  
She had visited her mother's grave the very next Sunday.  
  
Well, he thought, maybe every guy has one good speech in him, and he had already used his up. Who's to say what Laverne needed to hear more, "Go visit your mother's grave" or "Don't move in with that bum"?  
  
Lenny's face tightened in a grimace. How could someone so smart be so stupid? Couldn't she see how miserable she was going to be with that guy? Did she actually think he was going to change and marry her? Did she think she could wish away all of her dreams of marrying Mr. Right and starting a family? The one thing she had always wanted ever since he could remember?  
  
Lenny smiled as another, much older and more private, Milwaukee memory flashed through his mind. On those few golden days of childhood, when Squiggy and Shirley weren't around, he and Laverne would play "wedding". He remembered being so terrified that Squiggy would find out and never let him live it down, but Laverne could always persuade him to play. He also remembered how the sight of Laverne standing in the vestibule of her parent's apartment, wearing her first communion veil, made his eight year old heart pound with excitement.  
  
Twice he had stolen a kiss on her cheek. Once she let him. Once she kicked him in the shin.  
  
It was always a mixed bag with her.  
  
How could he stand by and let his second-best friend make a huge mistake?  
  
Friends are forever, right? Laverne herself had told him that a hundred times at least.  
  
A metallic taste filled his mouth, nearly gagging him as realization struck.  
  
There was a reason Laverne had to keep telling him that. He always forgot.  
  
What he just did had very little, if anything to do with feelings of friendship for Laverne. Despite what he had been thinking when he drove to David's apartment earlier, he now knew he didn't have Laverne's best interests solely at heart. He may have fooled her, but he could no longer deny his motivations.  
  
He wanted her.  
  
Still.  
  
She had rebuffed him countless times, with varying degrees of vehemence. A few years ago, she had laid it out in black and white, telling him they were friends. Nothing more, but nothing less. Until just now, he thought she had convinced him. Thought he had moved on.  
  
Now, he just felt small. And mean. A man who would tell the woman he cared about half truths out of jealousy. Possibly ruining her chance for happiness because it left him standing out in the cold.  
  
He had no right to try to make her feel bad about her choices. Who was he to judge her?  
  
Besides, if she showed up at his door, offering him what she had offered David, would he have taken the moral high ground? Insisted nothing happen until they were wearing rings?  
  
Hardly.  
  
He would have taken her in his arms and done what he had always wanted to do with her. Hell, what he had tried at the Royal Cactus Motel. Wedding rings? Shirley and Squiggy's presence hadn't dampened his enthusiasm, who was he kidding?  
  
His actions that night nearly ruined their friendship for good.  
  
He was no better than that creep foreman back in Milwaukee.  
  
Despite the warm day, Lenny shivered suddenly. He began to briskly rub his hands together as he looked once again in the direction of the third floor apartment.  
  
Then he saw her on the sidewalk, heading towards his truck.  
  
Laverne carried a cardboard carton under one arm, and was wearing the same sweatshirt and jeans she had been wearing earlier. Funny, he hadn't noticed that red, lacy thing poking out from under her sweatshirt when he was in the apartment.  
  
He opened his mouth to make some wisecrack, but his voice failed him.  
  
She stopped in front of him, her eyes red-rimmed and her face blotchy. Wordlessly, she opened the passenger door and shoved the carton to the middle of the seat, then sat down. He got in. She didn't look up, just stared at some spot on the dashboard as he wordlessly drove her back home, to Laurel Vista.  
  
The carton and a heavy silence wedged firmly between them. 


End file.
